Quick to Judge
by CinderellaAtTheBall
Summary: After everything she's heard about new Herbology professor Neville Longbottom, Vivian dreads her first lesson with him. (OC-centric.)


_Written for Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments - Term 11, Assignment 6: **Herbology, Task #2: write about someone who seems scary/mean/menacing, etc. but is perfectly harmless.**_

_Note: Since we don't know what year Neville started teaching at Hogwarts, I took some liberties in having him start in the fall of 2013, when Teddy is a fifth-year._

* * *

**Quick to Judge**

Vivian was dreading Herbology.

The first-year Hufflepuff thought that plants were fascinating, so that wasn't the problem. The problem was that her professor was Neville Longbottom, and he terrified her.

It wasn't as though she was the only one afraid of him, either. Other students were, too. They talked about him in hushed voices in the common room.

"Did you hear that he chopped off that snake's head?"

"I heard that he _ate_ a piece of it afterwards!"

"He was an Auror for a few years after the war, too, wasn't he? I wouldn't want to get on his bad side."

"Yeah, plus I've heard that he spends an awful lot of time in the greenhouses with those plants of his. It isn't right..."

Those whispers only served to make Vivian even more scared for her first Herbology class. Her professor was a war hero and supposedly preferred the company of plants to people! She imagined a sullen, grouchy man who wasn't afraid to hex students just for talking out of turn.

...

"All right there, Viv?" Teddy Lupin asked the next morning at breakfast. His hair was its usual turquoise color, and his smile was warm and friendly. "You look kinda pale."

Vivian had difficulty swallowing a piece of toast because her throat was so dry, so she washed it down with a goblet of pumpkin juice before answering Teddy's question. "Erm, just nervous for my first day of classes."

"What do you have?"

"Transfiguration and Her—Herbology," she stuttered.

"Well, Transfiguration can be a bit tricky, but you'll be doing easy stuff your first class. I think you'll like Herbology, though. Professor Longbottom knows how to make plants sound so interesting."

Teddy seemed sincere, but Vivian was still worried. She began to twirl a lock of brown hair around her finger — a nervous habit of hers.

"Do you know him, then? What's he like?" she asked tentatively.

"Oh, he's wonderful," the prefect enthused. "He's quite passionate about the subject and I imagine he's willing to help anyone that's struggling."

"Really?" Vivian bit her lip. "I guess I kind of thought he would be a little...scary. You know, because of the war hero thing."

"Listen, Vivian," Teddy said earnestly, "my godfather is good friends with Professor Longbottom and I've had dinner with him loads of times. He's very nice. Very... unassuming. You'll like him, I promise."

Vivian nodded and tried to choke down some more toast, but her stomach was still in knots.

...

Transfiguration passed in a blur, much to Vivian's dismay. Before long, she was trudging down to the greenhouses with the rest of the first-year Hufflepuffs, as well as the first-year Ravenclaws. It was only a small comfort that everyone else looked as terrified as she felt — one Ravenclaw boy was even biting his nails.

The group filed into Greenhouse 1 in relative silence. Vivian risked a quick glance at the new Herbology professor and was surprised to find that he appeared equally as nervous. He was also not nearly as tall as she had been expecting, though she still felt dwarfed by him.

"Good afternoon, class," he began. His voice was rather soft, but the class remained quiet, so it wasn't difficult to hear him. "Today we will be discussing some of the properties of wormwood, and by the end of class, you should have the opportunity to collect some of its leaves."

A Ravenclaw girl standing near Vivian suddenly sneezed, and Vivian tensed. Would Professor Longbottom berate her for interrupting his lecture?

"Bless you," was all he said before moving on, and Vivian let out the breath she had been holding.

Teddy was right — Professor Longbottom was _very_ passionate about plants. He talked about the wormwood as though it had feelings, and he sometimes got carried away on tangents, sharing anecdotes about his experiences with it. All in all, Vivian decided that he was nowhere near as scary as she had initially thought. In fact, he was quite kind. He didn't make fun of anyone for asking questions, and he even made the Ravenclaw nail-biter smile at one point. She could easily see Herbology becoming one of her favorite classes.

...

Teddy sought her out in the common room after dinner that evening. She had been sitting with a few of the other first-years at one of the polished wooden tables. They hadn't been able to stop talking about how nice Professor Longbottom was, and how much they were looking forward to his next class.

"How was your first Herbology lesson?" Teddy asked, drawing her away from her housemates. She was grateful that he did so — it saved her the embarrassment of having this conversation in front of her peers.

"It was great," she said enthusiastically. "Professor Longbottom was so..._nice_. I feel bad for thinking he would be really mean. He doesn't seem like he would hurt a fly, let alone a snake."

"He doesn't," Teddy agreed with a grin, "but I suppose appearances can be deceiving."

"Yeah." Vivian thanked him for checking in with her and skipped back to the other first-years.

"What did Teddy want?" Sarah Macmillan whispered.

"He just wanted to see how Herbology went," she whispered back.

"Did you tell him how awesome Professor Longbottom is?" she giggled, tossing her hair.

Vivian smiled. "Absolutely."

...

Word quickly spread that Professor Longbottom _wasn't_ the menacing figure the Hogwarts rumor mill had made him out to be, and gradually, everyone forgot that they had even been scared of him in the first place.

At the end of the year, he was credited with inspiring a number of students to continue their Herbology studies over the summer holidays and at the N.E.W.T. level. Vivian was among those beaming proudly as the mild-mannered professor was presented with an award for outstanding teaching. She couldn't think of anyone who deserved it more.

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Word count: 981


End file.
